Allentown City Council: Public Needs More Time For Cedar Park Plans

A few short days ago, former Lehigh County Democratic treasurer Jacob Oberholtzer was urging us all to just trust the "pros" in King Edwin's administration. But last night, during a packed and lengthy Allentown City Council meeting, we learned that all the King's Horses and all the King's Men have been misleading us. What they've been circulating as their master plan of renovations at Cedar Beach, and what they actually intend to do, are two different things. It's pretty clear nobody has a frickin' idea what the hell is going on at Cedar Beach. If you think you know, you're wrong.

At least seventy people, most opposed to different aspects of the Cedar Park plan, were on hand. So were a dozen uniformed boy scouts from Troop 29 in Cetronia, who were obviously being punished for some reason. Seated in front of these scouts was Park Director Greg Weitzel, accompanied by his two grade school daughters.

He's the only person who actually followed First Lady Pawlowski's instructions to bring little kids because they "play well for any media that would be there." Lady P also ordered her minions to bring signs, but the only one I saw was one opposed to the megaplayground. Council Prez Mike D'Amore ordered it removed.

At first, it was unclear whether the public would even be allowed to speak on this item. D'Amore refused all public comment during "courtesy of the floor" because Cedar Beach was an agenda item. He said it would be discussed under Communications. So we all got to listen to some dude talk about pigeon shit from one of his neighbors, who must be Big Bird.

Once courtesy of the floor was over, D'Amore and Donovan suddenly suggested that the Cedar Beach item be referred to a committee of the whole on August 13. That way, King Edwin, currently on holiday with Lady P, could explain things to the unwashed masses. But that would also remove Cedar Beach from the agenda, and with it, the public's right to speak.

Council member Jeanette Eichenwald was having none of that, and forcefully demanded that courtesy of the floor be re-opened. "I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that the good citizens who are here have an opportunity to speak this evening."

She did, too. Everyone on council ended up agreeing with her. She is a forceful and persuasive advocate of public participation. Thanks to jeanette and an open-minded council, around twenty-five people did speak. The mother of an autistic and retarded child spoke eloquently about a specially designed playground, and no one disagreed with her. But most of the talkers last night oppose different aspects of the Cedar Park plan. For some, it's runoff. For others, it's the destruction of part of the passive features of the park. Interestingly, as citizens lined up behind the podium, Greg Weitzel left the bilding, arrogantly demonstrating how he really feels about citizen input.

Joanne Graves, one of last night's procession of orators, is the person who discovered we've been misled. She learned just today that the plan made available to the public is different from the plan city officials are using. That's some other plan, which is kept undr lock and key. City council members then acknowledged that these new plans are only being submitted to them now.

Here's some of what Graves, who I videotaped, had to say.

"I had a chance to meet with Mr. Weitzel today, for a couple of hours, and I did see the 'new' plan. It still has its issues, that's true. But the misrepresentation actually came from the people who are ... and that's the park and recreation and administration. That's what is out there, that's what was posted, big-time, at Mayfair, and that's what you see, coming across your desks, at this point. It's very, very unfortunate that this miscommunication came about, not from the good people of Allentown. The information that was to the paper, for a 567-person park, they claim that that's not going to happen and the administration has called and said, 'Where did that information come from?'"

"I have the minutes of the Rose Garden in May, and Mr. Weitzel himself gave the information to the public at that point, no matter what was said. So this 'destination park' has been over-exaggerated, that is true, but still all the wiz bangs are in place that make it kind of a nuisance.

"It's not the little park that was on the map for the west part of the park. That little park is in a flood zone and it was flooded this past weekend. There is no way anything on that park could be manageable for the children to play in. They love to play in the water, that's true, but the playground would be floating away. So that just can't happen anyway. So it's going to be moved over. Today, he said it was going to be 19,000 square feet.

"I think the problem really is administration and parks and recreation have given improper information to the public. So I seek the guidance of council to really find what is the true scoop and then, to follow the money."

Freida Camber (sp?), who followed Joanne, noted that neither Pawlowski nor Weitzel attended the first council meeting in which they expressed their concerns. At a second meeting, "It was noted, by a lot of people, that the mayor was here, but did not choose to enter. Mr. Weitzel wasn't here. This week, they are not present. ... The mayor called me, 9 o'clock at night, to urge us to recognize how misguided our information was, and asked me if I could meet with Mr. Weitzel. I did that with Joanne today for two hours. I think it is somewhat subject to misinterpretation to say we saw the plan. We did not see the plan. Mr. Weitzell had it on his computer, would not give us a copy, would not give us a copy of any of the information that he claimed to be relying on, the court case involving the Trexler Trust. So we came away, knowledgeable about two things. One was that this plan essentially is working very well in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and is being contracted by Lewisburg Contractors. Secondly, what we have all been looking at and spending a lot of money to copy, is not the 'final' plan, but something in limbo land.

"The Mayor told me the council has approved this plan, whatever that might be, five separate times."

Audience member: "He's a liar."

Amazingly, one woman who was never was notified about this master plan was surprised to learn that it shows a walkway across her property. One of her neighbors noticed a similar encroachment on his property.

At this point, Council members were just shaking their heads. Michael Donovan noted he had only been provided with a revised plan the previous day. Mike D'Amore indicated that Council had told Pawlowski to scale back the plans and to make all parks handicapped-accessible. Julio Guridy said administration officials told him "people will be surprised" when they see Powlowski's latest power point on August 13. But if people were being provided with the facts, why would there be any surprises?

Council took three steps last night. First, they unanimously adopted a nonbinding resolution requesting that construction be delayed until there's a new plan that accommodates all interests. Second, they will meet as a committee of the whole on August 13, and both the Mayor and Greg Weitzel have agreed to make a presentation. Third, a Donovan-sponsored ordinance, which requires city council approval for any significant changes to city parks, was introduced.

Most people left as soon as the Cedar Park discussion had concluded, but Donovan mentioned something later that night that is far more troubling than Cedar Beach. He has concerns about another plan - the one from a "blue ribbon panel" that will solve Allentown's fiscal woes for the next thousand years. He believes the deficit may actually be larger than projected.

What we have here is a failure to communicate, Pawlowski's biggest flaw as mayor.